


After The Mirror

by peppermint_latte



Series: After The Mirror Series [2]
Category: Video Blogging RPF, Who Killed Markiplier? (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, M/M, Murder, Non-Graphic Violence, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 16:49:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 7,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17084072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peppermint_latte/pseuds/peppermint_latte
Summary: After the events of WKM the District Attorney is still here. Where you ever curious what happened to us? This is our story, after the broken mirror.





	1. Chapter 1

We all know the story, we were there.

 

So this story won’t be about the days that we sat on that table. Looking out of the mirror trapped. Legs drawn up, arms tightening, in the vain hope that if we block out everything, that maybe we’ll wake up, and it will all be a terrible dream.

 

We never do.

 

I’m here to tell you about the days when we have no tears left to cry, and we have already screamed ourself out.

 

After that it’s quiet, we don’t speak, we don’t even move. Years pass, and slowly we find a way to move outside the mirror.

 

It’s a bitter laugh on a cold Tuesday morning, in the silence that has lasted decades, as the irony chokes us.

 

We are no longer the victim, we become the thing that ruined it all. We replace whatever left in our body.

 

We twist and change, soon we can manipulate the halls, the doors.

 

No one comes here anymore, but we imagine, that if they did, we would be able to whisper to them. Corrupt them like it did.

 

First it was Mark, spiralling down after the loss of his wife. Easy to manipulate, and the more times he tried to end his life, the easier it became.

 

Then it was the Colonel, slowly, over the course of his life. He lived there for decades, it was enough. Enough that a single moment broke him.

 

Next it was Celine, she grew too curious. That was her downfall. It whispered to her, she should never have whispered back.

 

Last it was Damien, he was the hardest to corrupt. His heart was so big and he opened it to everyone willingly. He was kind, and it took a much more subtle approach to ruin him.

 

It never really came for us, we were always in the way, nothing more. That’s why we’re here. In this house. Becoming this house.

 

We shiver in disgust on reflex, the idea alone would have horrified us once. Now there is nothing, as nothing stands the test of time.

 

I remember watching it slowly slip through my fingers like sand, I don’t miss it now. All those messy feelings. Pointless.

 

The months pass, nothing changes not even the trees. But then, something new happens.

 

Today, today is different. Today is new. Today, someone enters the house.


	2. Chapter 2

You move to the front hall in an instant. The energy of a human being in this place acting like a beacon after so long.

 

“Damien? Celine?” We hear. Oh, it’s the Colonel.

 

“Ha, you can come out now… I know you’re here! Damien! You disappeared! It’s time to stop hiding!” There is a desperate edge to his voice, just like that day.

 

But he looks so different. He hasn’t aged, despite the time that has passed. No, but his hair and moustache are pink and his accent is slurred.

 

He is an enigma, why would he come back here? Who has he become? He is no longer dressed like a Colonel so what has he been doing all these years?

 

We catch ourself. We don’t care, all those questions are not important to our goals.

 

He may be the only one to come here for a very long time. We must find out if we can manipulate him the way it did.

 

I pause for a moment, assuming this works, what will we do with him? What can we gain from him?

 

Information, about the world outside this place, yes, and him. The Colonel-William, he is no Colonel. William will know where it took them. What they have been doing all this time. Where she is.

 

With all the power you have now there is really nothing else to do, except seek out the only other like us. Ask questions no one else can answer.

 

Again a tick of something in the back of my mind, revenge. No, that is far to emotional for us.

 

We will destroy him, but not for revenge. Simply because, he took what is ours.

 

We move towards William, we lean in beside his ear and whisper things, all the things he could want to hear.

 

We’ll help him find them, we know where they are. They need your help, but do that you must trust us.

 

It appears to be working, William starts to lose the desperately insane expression and begins to turn back towards the front door.

 

“Wilford”

 

That one word makes my skin crawl and the darkness inside me wish to cower. It has never done that before.

 

I turn to look at the one who spoke and I stare. They stare right back, a sinister smirk appears on their face.

 

“Hello Y/N, it has been a very long time”

 

For the first time in as long as you can remember your blood turns cold with fear.


	3. Chapter 3

Wilford, as he is we suppose, turns to look at her. We don’t take our eyes off of it. And he doesn’t take his eyes off of us.

 

“Dark, you disappeared. I didn’t know where you were.” It almost sounds like an excuse coming from William.

 

But he was on the edge of collapse only minutes ago, it’s hardly surprising. Part of us wonders for a moment if it’s been permanent, if he’s lived on the knives edge for so long.

 

We shake the thought, it’s distracting. I focus on them. They are the threat here. Whatever Wil can do isn’t likely to kill you, ‘Dark’ on the other hand is deadly.

 

We must have summoned her here. She could not have arrived so fast otherwise. Damn it, if only we’d been a little more careful with how we approached Wil.

 

Dark is still looking at us, and if we are as greatly unmatched as I think we are then we are then the look on his face hails death.

 

Before we can come up with a clever plan that can get us out of this situation alive, Dark has us pinned against the wall. It seems to bleed an aura of red and blue. It is clearly furious.

 

For them it seems effortless to hold us here. Like they’re barely exerting any energy. But no matter how hard we push we can’t escape.

 

Stupid, we’d never thought about how long he’d been in the house. Much longer than us,

clearly. But I’m not about to lay down and die.

 

She lets go of us suddenly. We don’t fall to the floor, we have much more decorum than that. She runs her hands down her suit to straighten it and we watch as her aura retreats.

 

He is looking at us calmly, like he hadn’t just pinned us to the wall, ready to kill us. He turns to Wil and says.

 

“Go back home Wil. I have some business to finish here.”

 

Wil doesn’t appear to fear Dark in anyway, despite his earlier efforts to excuse his presence here. We watch him leave the house.

 

We turn back to them, bracing for death. It never comes.

 

“You have grown quite powerful over the years. I’m impressed, Y/N.”

 

Dark is looking at us like we’re a prize of some sort. We must be useful to him, that or he may be trying to lure us away from this place.

 

If we stay, we may eventually grow to be more powerful than her. We are still a threat, she is simply trying to manipulate us. Like before.

 

“Thank you, Dark? Is that the name you use?”

 

“Yes, I see you’ve been paying attention. It is good to meet another like me, and I think we could do a great many things if we worked together.”

 

There it is, they do want our power. Well, we can still get our answers from them. Before we can see them move they are right in front of us.

 

“But you will never lay a hand on Wilford again, do you understand?”

 

It’s not really a question of course, if we disagree it will kill us or leave us here. Either is not an acceptable outcome.

 

“Yes, I understand.”

 

“Good, then it seems we have a partnership.”

 

The smile on his face tells us that we never really had a choice. Again that long buried fear rises in us, we feel as though we are far too deep. We wonder if we’ll ever get out again.


	4. Chapter 4

The silence unsettles us for the first time in many years. The quiet of the house, when no one is here itches underneath skin

 

It should not, we have been alone here for so long and yet after less than an hour of speaking to people we have grown use to having company again.

 

Disgusting, that kind of weakness cannot be tolerated. We stopped caring a long time ago, and for good reason.

 

We remember how broken we were. For so long we did nothing but cry and screaming and beg. It was pitiful. We were weak, and we cannot afford weakness anymore.

 

We wait, somewhat impatiently. Dark had said they would find someone for us to possess. They promised to walk us through what to do.

 

Not that we need help, but maybe, we still have something to learn. We had done something wrong when we tried to manipulate Will, it had alerted Dark.

 

He has been doing this for a very long time, anything he can teach us is invaluable.

 

We sat for sometime contemplating how best to deal with Dark when the time came. It was several hours at least, possibly days. We don’t keep track of time as well as we use to.

 

Dark finally returns with a human. Unassuming, small enough build, they will do well, we think.

 

Dark has explained how this worked, it is tricky. First the host must die as they are most vulnerable dead.

 

We need to find the best way to kill them. We tilt our head, it’s strangulation, of course. The less damage done to the body the better.

 

Some vindictive part of you thinks that they must be having fun with our broken body.

 

We know that Dark could do this for us, but she holds enough power as it is. So I whisper to them, telling them that they are tired. That they should go to sleep.

 

We guide them to a bedroom, it is almost as clean as it was all those years ago. The power here has slowed the building’s aging.

 

It is easy for us to end their life. Like snuffing a candle.

 

Next is convincing them to that we can take them back, save them. If only they let us in. They harbour a great deal of anger, and with a few well placed promises that we will take revenge, they say yes.

 

As they return to conciousness we take control. Pushing them back and wrapping them in sleep.

 

Walking down the staircase we see Dark. It looks somewhat impatient, but also something resembling proud at what we have accomplished.

 

“Now that you can leave the grounds, let us be off. There is much to do.”

 

We start to walk, wherever we are going I have a great deal of questions about it.


	5. Chapter 5

As we walked we attempt to restrain ourself, as we do not think Dark will appreciate pestering.

 

Which questions are the most important? It is probably safe to ask a few.

 

“May I ask where we are going?” We say.

 

Dark turns to us.

 

“We are going to the home shared by myself, Wilford and a few others.”

 

This raises more questions than it answers, which we should expect from them.

 

“Am I allowed to be privy to some of your plans? You said we would be able to do many things together, I’m interested in what those things might be.”

 

A less safe question, but she dodged our first and I really want an answer. She eyes us speculatively.

 

“I trust you have not forgotten who got us into this mess.” They say.

 

“Mark.”

 

“We, myself and others are making plans to destroy him. Among other things.”

 

Well, that is something, and something we can get behind too. We may blame Dark for leaving us in that place, but all of it was Mark to begin with so a great deal of the blame rests with him.

 

We doubt we’ll get much else out of him right now. Better to wait and see where he is taking us.

 

After travelling for some time, we arrive at an office building. Rather nondescript, it has no sign hanging on the front, telling you the company it is owned by.

 

Dark walks towards the doors and walks in. We follow close behind. We have had time to adjust to having a body again on the way here, but the warmth that curls around us when we step inside is still somewhat startling.

 

We immediately notice that there is someone else in the lobby.

 

“Dark, old boy we’d started to think you weren’t coming back. And who is this that you’ve brought with you?” Wilford says.

 

He of course, doesn’t recognise us. We don’t look like ourself of course, though we aren’t completely sure he would recognise us anyway.

 

“This is Y/N, they will be helping us in our goals.”

 

We are somewhat surprised Dark gave our real name, but maybe William doesn’t remember us. We hardly knew each other after all.

 

“Well, we are glad to have you Y/N.” Wilford says enthusiastically.

 

“Follow me, there are others for you to meet.” Dark starts to walk away.

 

“Everybody is already waiting for you in the conference room!” Wilford shouts before Dark leaves the lobby.

 

Dark doesn’t even turn to acknowledge this, instead continuing to walk away. We quickly follow.

 

We follow it down a hallway, it opens a door into a conference room. In the room there are several people sitting around a table.

 

We notice that like Wilford and Dark, they share similar appearances. They all turn to look at us as we enter.


	6. Chapter 6

Everyone immediately starts to speak at the same time. It’s rather overwhelming and we are only able to catch a few remarks.

 

“In your absence we have been unable to make any progress on our primary objective. We need to get back on track.”

 

“Y/N’s eyes find the Host and they watch as the Host narrates the events happening right now.”

 

“Who is this you’ve brought with you? They look sick, let me give them a check up.”

 

This last comment reminds us that like Dark, our body looks dead. Not as grey, but pale with a an angry purple hand mark on our throat.

 

We also do not have an aura like them, most likely because we do not have the same power that they do.

 

Dark moves to the head of the table and takes a seat, she gestures to the empty seat on the left side of the table.

 

We sit down and everyone quiets down. They all turn to Dark, waiting for an explanation. An awkward silence falls, and we are unsure what we are waiting for until the door opens again and Wilford steps in.

Once he is seated Dark begins speaking.

 

“As of the last week I have had some business to attend too. I have been setting things up for our plans. Along the way I have also found someone interested in our cause.”

 

He gestures to me and everyone turns to look at me.

 

“This is Y/N. I expect you to treat them as you treat any of the others.” We’re not sure whether this is a good thing or not.

 

The meeting commences and we expect plans to be layed and progress to be made but hardly anything gets done at all.

 

We almost wonder why Dark has recruited all of these people to aid him in his revenge, but we suppose, some of them have potential. Untapped sure, but it is there.

 

The Host has the ability to narrate events moments before they happen. That must surely be useful. Other than that, he is an mystery. Though he is dangerous, we can feel that.

 

The doctor, for all his bluster, appears to be skilled in medicine. We haven’t seen him at work, but he seems knowledgeable at least. And one of the others, Bim, was his patient recently. He is still alive, so he must be at least competent.

 

Google is a strange one, he’s an android not that you really understand what that means. But as a machine we don’t truly understand his motives and that unsettles us. But nevertheless he clearly has a vast well of knowledge.

 

Apart from William, or Wilford, the others at the table seem to be rather useless. We can’t imagine why Dark keeps them around. All they seem to do is disrupt things.

 

Now Wilford isn’t anything like the Colonel was, he’s a loose canon for one. Another is his complete carelessness for death. It’s odd. Something has changed drastically in him since we saw him last. Despite all this, we can tell he has a great deal of power.

 

As the meeting ends all the others stand and leave. Dark remains seated and gestures for us to do the same.

 

“There is a great deal about this place that I must explain to you. Listen carefully, I won’t repeat myself.” Dark still puts us on edge. They have to much power and anger fuelling them. But we stay and listen to what she says next.


	7. Chapter 7

We walk down the hallway slowly, we’re not really worried about getting to the kitchen to quickly. We’re focused on what Dark told us about this place.

 

It’s a headquarters of sorts, for all these… clones? No.. egos, I suppose. Egos of Mark. Mark, it all comes down to him. They’re going after him, and we are very much behind that. But it all seems, a little disorganised.

 

Dark told us about each of the egos living here. Not all of them were at the meeting, even. Some rarely participate, but they must be of some use to Dark. That, or he simply keeps them here so they don’t get in the way.

 

She warned us not to harm any of them, no matter what. Well, she really threatened us. But it doesn’t matter, we’re not here for them anyway.

 

They also told us to get acquainted with this place, learn the layout, meet the others, find a room to stay in. The last one had confused us, as we don’t need to sleep. Dark had told us that the others do, so for their sakes we are to keep up appearances.

 

We are pulled out of our thoughts as we reach the door to the main lounge room. We touch the handle and open the door.

 

As we step inside we notice the three sitting together around a bench, leaning in close and speaking quickly. They all look up as the door closes behind us.

 

Wilford is here, you don’t recognise the other two. Dark didn’t tell us anything about the others who weren’t at the meeting so we don’t have any clues as to who they are.

 

“Jim, it’s someone new, Jim.”

 

“We’re good, we haven’t been found out, it’s only new Jim, Jim.”

 

“Ah, Y/N we thought you were someone else. Come, join us! We’re setting up a prank.”

 

We walk over to see what they’re doing. We lean in to see an uniced cake . I look up at them all.

 

“What, are you going to do with that.” I say flatly.

 

They all grin back at me.

 

“We’re going to prank Google.”

 

With the prank finally finished we sit down to wait for Google to come in. None of the androids need to sleep so he will come into the kitchen eventually. We aren’t really sure how Wilford is going to convince him to eat the cake, as he doesn’t need to eat. But they have all assured us that this prank will go brilliantly. We completely disagree.

 

We sit and wait for quite some time, tuning out the others talking and laughing on the couches. We have a great deal to think about, how we can become involved in this plan, what we will do if it succeeds, what we will do if it fails and other things.

 

Finally the door opens and two egos step in. One of them is Google and the other looks like Google but their shirt is green. They immediately stopped speaking to each other and turned to look at all of us.

 

“We did not think anyone else would still be awake, you need to sleep to remain productive.” Blue almost chides.

 

Wilford jumps up and practically teleports over to them, in fact we’re not entirely sure he doesn’t.

 

“Google my friend, I have a surprise, I made it just for you.” He says excitedly.

 

He gestures to the now iced cake sitting innocently on the bench. Both Googles turn to look at it.

 

“You are aware we do not require food, Wilford.” Green says.

 

“Of course not! But I made it for you anyway! Come on, try a piece won’t you.” Wilford walks over to the cake.

 

Both Googles stand there and consider for a moment, before they both start to decline. We interrupt.

 

“If you eat it, he will go to bed. Tomorrow’s productivity saved.” We say disinterestedly.

 

They both turn to study us. We remain unfazed. We act as though we are with them on this but Will is an unstoppable force.

 

They concede and agree to try the cake.


	8. Chapter 8

Blue Google leans towards the cake as if to inspect it. He reaches for the knife beside it and Wilford teleports, this time we’re sure of it, and shoves Google’s head into the iced cake.

 

Everyone stops and waits for his reaction. Blue slowly rises and his face is covered in icing and cake. Wilford and the Jims start laughing and even we are inclined to smile at the expression on the machine’s face.

 

“This was a pointless prank. You have wasted my time.” Blue says with just an edge of anger. It’s subtle, but it makes us wonder if he is emotionless as he appears to be.

We are pulled from our thoughts by Wilford speaking.

 

“Ah come on now Google it was a great prank, Lighten up a little.” Well, that had probably been the wrong thing to say. Blue looks murderous, and I’m deciding whether I need to step in when the door opens. We all turn to see a grey aura overtake part of the room and Dark steps inside.

 

“What is the meaning of this?” She asks studying all of us. Blue speaks first.

 

“Wilford has constructed a ‘prank’ to waste my time, and create a mess.”

 

Dark turns to stare at Wil, and he looks back unfazed.

 

“We have spoken about interrupting the others while they work, we will not speak about it again. And clean up this mess.” They say, turning and leaving the room.

 

We decide to leave now, we don’t want to see what comes next. Anyway, there is much more of this place to explore. We slowly make our way out into the hall, we don’t wish to meet Dark.

In the end our exploring grants us there is not much else worthy of noting. Sure there are all the private rooms, the Doctor’s Office and a radio recording studio but those were as expected. There is not even a garden, which saddens us slightly as it would have been a nice place to go to get away.

 

“Y/N noticed the voice narrating events as they have their daily internal battle; trying to squash their emotions. This endeavour is fruitless of course, which they know but do not admit to themself. Hearing the Host stay all of this annoys them and they cut him off-“

 

“Shut up Host!”

 

He stops speaking immediately. I turn to look at him. I shouldn’t make an enemy of this man, he is incredibly dangerous. Though he does not seem interested in using his power.

 

“Even when I am not narrating I am still aware of the events happening.”

 

Great, I can’t even think about him without him knowing. That is going to make things easy.

 

“I am not going to attack you at any point, we have all been ordered not too.”

 

“And you follow his orders.” We don’t want to voice the question but the Host will know regardless.

 

“We all do.” Is the only reply I get.

 

And I have nothing to say in return. For now all we are doing is collecting information, observing them all. We aren’t going to try anything yet, but judging by his expression the Host knows we will try something eventually.

 

“The Host wishes to warn Y/N that when they do make their attempt, take the others into account. They will not hesitate to use whatever they need to win. Some here do not deserve such a fate.” He says before walking away.

 

Well, that is certainly something, we appreciate the insight of such a warning. But also, the second part should be irrelevant to us and yet…part of us thinks he might be correct.


	9. Chapter 9

We spend the night sitting in our room thinking. We barely even move, if someone were here with us they would probably find it creepy.

 

We’re arguing with ourself over whether we should take this ego group down. The benefits are; destroying Dark for what he did, removing the others from the equation as some of them are quite powerful and dangerous.

 

The second point isn’t convincing us. What the Host said plays through our head over and over. We frown, we’re going in circles.

 

Maybe we should spend some time with the egos. Find out if he’s right, I suppose we could simply leave a few of the less dangerous ones alive.

 

Regardless, we need more information before we decide. So, who first?

 

In the morning we make our way to the kitchen. Hopefully their will be a few of others there that we can speak to.

 

We arrive at the kitchen and lounge area to find it empty except for one ego, who is wearing a Chef hat.

 

He looks up as we enter.

 

“Ah, you are an early riser to? If you are looking for the others, they are not awake yet.” Well, that answers our question. We are about to introduce ourself when he starts speaking again.

 

“I’m sorry I have not introduced myself, I am Chef Iplier.” Wonderful, more people using Mark’s name like it’s a joke. We wonder how Damien, Celine and the Colonel stand it.

 

“I am Y/N, the new house guest.” He smiles.

 

“Yes we have all heard about you. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” We smile back, but internally we are questioning how information moves around here. There must be a grapevine of sorts, that would be easy to disrupt.

 

“So you are the Chef here? You cook all the meals?” We ask, as painful as small talk is, it is necessary.

 

“Yes, I enjoy cooking immensely. And it’s the way I do my part here.” Interesting, they’re all fully invested in this goal. Dark has likely convinced some of them, but how?

 

We continue to probe through small talk for a while learning what we can, eventually some of the other egos start to wander in and we go quiet.

 

The Chef finishes preparing breakfast and the egos present dig in. He offers some to us but we decline, a dead body’s digestive system is well, dead. He looks at us strangely for a moment and one of the others comments that Dark doesn’t eat either.

 

Of course, we are in the same predicament, they wouldn’t be able to eat anything. We look around at the others, most of them are busy with their food but a few of them are looking at us speculatively, especially the Googles in the corner who are are also not eating.

 

We decide to get out of there, we can find a chance to talk to some of them later. We open the door to the garden and walk out.

 

Over the course of the next few weeks we continue to watch and gather information.

 

We sit in on meetings, listening to half-baked plans and pointless arguments. We speak with Dark privately every few days and they teach us about our abilities. On the off days we seek out the Googles and learn about what has come to pass since we were last outside of the house.

 

As time goes on, we concede that the Host is right. Many of the egos here are…. good. And despite the facade we project, we are not cruel.

 

We remember our host, their death weighs on us. We can’t be like Dark, as much as we might wish it. We would probably need to be in the house for much, much longer before we could become something so inhuman.

 

This will of course make taking out Dark all that much harder. We spend many nights thinking about that. We even once, consider enlisting the help of Mark. But no, we hate him just as much as Dark does.

 

The plan comes to us after a meeting in which Dark’s red and blue auras had projected further then any other time we’ve seen. It was of course this moment, when it clicked for us.

 

The blue and red are Damien and Celine. Which on it’s own doesn’t mean much, but….

 

We could tear them apart, literally. Separate the three beings currently inside Dark.

 

In fact, that might actually be a way to destroy it. We wouldn’t need more power if the entity was utterly crippled by the break. We finally have a plan, and we begin to set things in motion.


	10. Chapter 10

The first order of business is to find out where the Host stands. He can gives us away to Dark at any time. He hasn’t yet, which is good for us. But we don’t know his motives. In the end he must know we want to speak with him, because he once again finds us when we’re alone.

 

“Host.” Is all we say.

 

“The Host will not oppose you, Dark is heading down a path that will lead the egos to ruin.”

 

“But you will not help.” We didn’t expect it, but it would have been useful.

 

“Y/N does not need the Host’s assistance, even if they did the Host cannot help. He does not take part in events, only witnesses them.”

 

Interesting, that is why his power is so… contained. Still, he won’t inform Dark of our plans so that’s all that matters.

 

“The Host would suggest that Y/N doesn’t seek out any of the others, most of them wouldn’t openly oppose Dark until they know he is ruined.”

 

Clearly he is more onside then he’s letting on, once again he gave us insightful information. Well if we can’t convince the egos, then we need to figure out how to split Dark back into they’re parts.

 

We return to our room for the night to think on it. We lay on our bed and consider:  
Our abilities from what we’ve gathered so far, have strange limitations. It should be possible to split them apart. But it will most likely involve us using an… emotional connection.  
We sigh. Somehow we knew it was coming to this, we’ve been doing our best to squash any emotion that rises up in us, it’s a weakness. Even in Dark, it’s a glaring weakness.

 

But, ever since the Host made his comments we haven’t been able to ignore them as thoroughly. That will be useful now. The next, and more painful part is who we make the emotional connection with. Damien. It has to be him, of course. We’d tried to stop caring about him a long time ago, thankfully we failed. Well, thankfully now. It’s also our biggest weakness.

 

Which is why we need to move soon, Dark is sure to pick up on that and use it against us at the first opportunity. We lay there and look back to days long gone, and memories to painful to remember. A small ache starts in our chest, we still love him. We focus on that and slowly shift into the void. It’s endless black except for his blue aura. I can feel Dark close by, but not close enough to feel what I’m doing. It doesn’t realise the error in trying push Damien and Celine as far back as it can.

 

I walk over to him and kneel down. He’s sitting with his head between his knees and a familiar cane in his hands. It hurts to see him so broken and scared.

 

“It’s been a long time old friend.” We say softly.

 

Damien looks up at us and stares, searching our face. Looking at us like he can’t believe we’re here.

 

“Y/N? How…Dark, it…” He pauses and collects himself a little.

 

“How can you be here? That thing would never allow this. Is this some kind of trick?” The way he says the last sentence sounds small, like he doesn’t think he can handle that.

 

We didn’t think about how long he’s been here, how long he’s been with it.

 

“I’m real Damien, I know you see what it sees. That short human it found at the house? That’s me. And I’m here to help. I know this is confusing but I need you to listen.” We pause waiting for him to take this in.

 

He nods somewhat reluctantly, it strikes us that this is an exact mirror of that terrible day. He looks scared and we can see a million questions are running through his head.

 

“I’m going to fix this. I’m going to free you from it. And I’m going to destroy this thing once and for all. Can you speak to Celine without it knowing?” He perks up and even smiles a little at what I say.

 

“Yes, we speak often. Dark has never noticed.”

 

“Good, then listen carefully and repeat all of this to her.” We tell him our plan and what we need Celine and him to do.

 

Sometime later we come back to our host body, almost like waking up. It’s been hours, we truly are lucky Dark didn’t notice.

 

We get up, as it’s early morning now. We leave our room headed for the kitchen like it’s any other day. We pass the Host on the way and he tells us that he will get the others out of the building for an hour. We change course and instead walk to the conference room. We take a seat in Dark’s chair. They come in fifteen minutes later, stopping the moment they see us.

 

It’s shell cracks and Celine and Damien’s auras extend.

 

“What are you doing?” It says shortly.

 

“Waiting for you.” We say casually, not bothering to get up.

 

“Get out of my seat.” It says losing patience.

 

“Have you noticed that the others are gone?” We ask, like we’re talking about the weather.

It stops, shell eerily intact and auras gone. Everything about it stops. It laughs, long and slow.

 

“Now, really? But our lessons have hardly begun. I was hoping for a challenge when you finally decided to try it. But I guess all you’ll ever be is wasted potential.”

 

We say nothing for a long moment.

 

“I don’t think so.” We say with a chuckle.

 

It’s anger flares at our careless attitude, showing how easy it is to anger.

 

“What could you possibly think you have that you could use against me? -” It prepares to continue but we interrupt.

 

“Wilford.” We say the keyword and see Damien and Celine’s auras extend out, distorting completely. Pulling as far away from the house as they can.

 

“Will? Why would he help you?” It asks, it’s tone close to indulgent.

 

“Because he can hear me, and I promised him I’d help him find his friends.” The moment we feel Will start to react to the call we reach through the void and pull.

 

We see Wilford appear just as Damien and Celine’s auras split completely apart and they both stand visibly projected behind Dark. Everything holds it’s breath for just a second and we look at Dark. We reach out to them and pull harder. The room explodes with colour and distortions in reality. Damien and Celine start to look less like flat shadows behind Dark and more like full projections how they did in the void.

 

Reality growns at the wrongness of them being here and the walls start to crack and void shining through. It leaks out and the darkness begins to shroud all the light in the room. Just as the last of the light fades, we use the last of our strength and pull just a little bit harder. A sound like rope snapping goes off and suddenly I feel them with me.

 

I look at Dark and the entity looks drained, more so than ever. It’s not even projecting an aura of grey. It’s slumps to the ground and we nearly do the same. We’re shaking from the power it took us to do that, even with Damien and Celine helping. Dark looks like it’s barely keeping a foothold on this plane. But we can’t even find the energy to walk over there and strange it. We’re shaking so much we probably couldn’t do it even if we managed to get over there. As it is, we just stand here staring at the dying demon.

 

We hear someone on our left move away from us. We stare as William walks over to Dark with his gun out. It’s deadly quiet except for the sound of his footfalls. He doesn’t even say anything, he just puts his finger on the trigger and shoots Dark. We stare at Dark’s lifeless body, it looks wrong with a hole between it’s eyes. It doesn’t even bleed. No blood left, we suppose. Will turns to us and raises the gun. Our eyes widen and we immediately put our hands up.

 

“Woah, wait Will. I meant what I said, I have Damien and Celine. I’ll found them for you.” He stares at us with a hard expression on his face. He doesn’t lower the gun.

 

“Then bring them back. You’re just like him, why should I believe that you won’t just keep them from me like he did!” He says angrily.

 

“I can’t!” We say desperately. We continue before Will decides to shoot us or interrupt.

 

“But you can.” Shock breaks out across his face and he lowers the gun. We slowly lower our hands and put them out, palms up.

 

We gently ask Damien and Celine to manifest their auras a little in our hands. Slowly our left starts to glow blue and our right, red. We look at Wilford, who is watching our hands. We reach out to him and he puts the gun down on the table. He walks over to us and reaches for them, hesitating at the last second. He looks up at us.

 

“I’m too weak right now. And even if I wasn’t I don’t know if my abilities work in a way that allows me to bring them back. But I’ve seen you William, what you can do. If anyone can bring them back, it’s you.” We say.

 

He looks so heartbreakingly hopeful and thankful. We smile and take his hands in ours. He looks down at the red and blue auras pulsing around our enclosed palms. His face becomes a mask of concentration. The red and blue surrounding our forearms begins to brighten. Eventually we have to close our eyes and even then we can see the back of our eyelids lit up.

 

The light cuts off suddenly and we feel an extra pair of hands holding our already linked ones. We slowly open our eyes, holding our breath. A familiar tanned hand is resting on top of my left hand and Will’s right. A lighter more delicate hand is holding my right joined with Will’s left. We look up and instantly smile. Tears forming in our eyes.

 

“Damien, Celine.” We laugh. We can’t remember the last time we were this happy.

 

We’re surprised by the sudden feeling of William letting go of us and we watch him pull Damien into a hug. He’s crying and telling him how much he’s missed him. He let’s go and immediately hugs Celine, who hugs him back gently. What surprises us most is when he let’s go of Celine and hugs us too.

 

“Thank you.” He whispers into our shoulder. We melt at that and hug him back.

 

We all stand enjoy each other’s presence for a while before we remember that the egos will be on their way back. We sit them down at the conference desk, the room mysteriously spotless all of a sudden and talk about what we’re going to do now. Whatever happens next, we’re all ready for it. Because the four of us have each other, and after so long that’s all we need.

The End.


	11. Epilogue

I’m sitting out on a bench behind the house, there’s fresh snow covering everything. Which is nice, since this place doesn’t have much in the way of a garden. It’s good to get away from everything, things are better now that the entity is gone but keeping the entire thing here from destabilising has been hard work.

 

Dark might have shared power with Wilford, but it was ultimately the glue that held this operation together. Redistributing all it’s jobs and responsibilities has taken longer than I would have liked, but Celine and Damien are settling in as a part of the house. Lost in thought I just barely hear the crunch of snow under shoes coming up behind me. Damien comes and sits down beside me on the stone bench.

 

We sit for a while in silence, appreciating the peace and the chance to just spend time together again. With how hectic things have been since Dark’s destruction we’ve hardly had a moment together. A stray thought crosses my mind and I chuckle, well its hardly a stray thought. With how terribly Mark’s poker night went and everything that happened afterwards I never told Damien how I felt about him. I never told him that I love him. Damien turns to look at me and gives me a curious look.

 

“What’s on your mind?” He asks me. I stare back at him contemplating whether I should answer truthfully. I sigh and break eye contact, there’s been enough lies. And after everything this isn’t going to be what breaks us. I look at him, as broken as we both are now. But there’s still gentleness in that look, we’re still gentle despite all we’ve suffered. I smile.

 

“I’m in love with you, and I have been for a very long time. I thought I lost my chance to tell you, but here we are.” I wait for a reaction, I’m not even scared anymore. I was once, long before everything. But after everything that fear seems so insignificant compared to the pain I felt after losing my chance. Damien looks completely taken aback by my confession. We watch as he slowly starts to fully process this, as he realises what that means a smile stretches across his lips.

 

“I have wished to tell you the same for a very long time.” He replies. Warmth spreads through me and I feel giddy with happiness. A long forgotten dream rises to the forefront of my mind, how many times did I wish that he would say that? Smiling at him I remember something else I always dreamed of doing.

 

“There’s something else I’ve wanted to do for a long time.” I say staring into his eyes. In another lifetime I would be patient, I would wait longer but it’s been decades and I thought I’d lost my chance. Now all I want to do is kiss him. I rest my palm on his cheek and lean in. I softly brush my lips against his, asking permission. Is this okay?

 

He kisses me back. It’s smooth and languid, we take our time savouring something we’ve both been waiting so long for. We’re interrupted by the sound of whooping somewhere to our left. We break apart and see William jumping up and down clapping, standing next to him is Celine. She isn’t jumping up and down like Will but she looks content.

 

“I told you! You owe me 50 bucks! Haha!” He very excitedly tells a slightly disgruntled Celine. She congratulates us and walks back inside. William of course follows, I feel for her knowing that she won’t hear the end of this for a while. I suggest we do the same to Damien, it is getting quite cold out here. We can’t afford to get sick, we have a house full of egos to look after.

 

He agrees and we slowly make our way back to the house. Slowed, by the fact that Dr. Iplier is likely to berate us for sitting out in the snow in such thin clothes. We also take our time so we can enjoy each other’s company. Things are going to change a lot around here, and this change, this change is going to be the best one.

**_The End._ **


End file.
